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The Assignment 1 Specification and Marking Criteria
A Simplified Remote Invocation Framework
Java RMI (Remote Method Invocation, reference Chapter 5 of the textbook and Week-3 lecture)
enables the local invocation and remote invocation use the same syntax to implement a generic
remote server like the Compute Engine example in Week-3 lecture slides. However, Java RMI
needs 2 HTTP servers to transfer Java classes between a RMI client and a RMI server at runtime.
In addition, Java RMI applications need a RMI Registry to register or look up the remote objects.
In this assignment, you are to implement a remote invocation framework that is similar to Java
RMI but lightweight (note: for this assignment, you don’t use any Java RMI APIs).
Java object serialization, multi-threading model and client/server model are the fundamental
Java components to build distributed applications. In this assignment, you are to develop
programming skills of these components or models via a particular application – a simplified
remote invocation framework. The Java object serialization, multithreading and client/server
components have been introduced through weekly lectures, tutorials and lab projects of this
unit; you should ensure that you have good understanding of these learning materials before
you start this assignment. In this assignment, you will need to integrate what you have learnt to
develop the framework. This assignment specification is as follows.
Part 1: Java TCP Networking, Multi-threading and Object Serialization Programming
The framework consists of a compute-server, a compute-client and a codebase repository,
which are depicted in the following diagram. The framework is a generic computing architecture
because the compute-client and compute-server just need to know the Task and CSMessage
interface or class in advance before the framework can start to run. The specification of the
components is as follows.
1. The interaction contract
The interaction contract between the client and server is defined by the Task interface:
//The Task interface (interaction contract) between clients and the server
Compute-client
Compute-server
Codebase
repository
Compute-task (that implements
Task interface) or CSMessage
Upload compute-task classes
Download
compute-task classes
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public interface Task {
public void executeTask();
public Object getResult();
}
Every compute-task must implement the Task interface. Executing the executeTask()
method will perform the task and set the result. Calling the getResult() method will return
the result.
2. The compute-client and compute-server
The compute-server is used as a generic compute-engine. When running, the server is
continuously waiting for the compute-tasks. A compute-task is created by a compute-client and
sent as a serialized object to the compute-server. Once the compute-server receives a task, it
will cast (be deserialized) it into the Task interface type and call its executeTask() method.
After executing the task, the compute-server will send the same object back to the compute-
client.
The compute-client is continuously accepting a user’s requests. Every request specifies a
compute-problem and its corresponding parameters. For a request, the compute-client creates
a compute-task and sends it as a serialized object to the compute-server. Once receiving the
compute-task object back from the server, the compute-client will call the getResult()
method of the object to display the result.
The following screenshots show the interaction between a compute-client and the compute-
server.
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3. The codebase repository
Such a framework makes the compute-server generic. That is, the compute-server just needs to
know the Task interface, then it can be compiled and run. If a compute-client implements a
new compute-task after the server is run up, the compute-client just needs in some way (in real
world application it could be a FTP server, but in this assignment, you just need to copy the files
into a directory) to upload the Java class of the compute-task into a pre-determined network
location (e.g. the codebase directory), which the compute-server can access from its Java
classpath. Then the compute-server can perform such a new compute-task. Therefore, the
server never needs to be shut down, recompiled, and restarted.
The following screenshot shows that there are 2 compute-tasks that have been uploaded into
the codebase repository.
4. The error message
However, when there is an exception occurred (e.g. a compute-client wants the compute-server
to perform a compute-task, but forgets uploading the Java class of the compute-task) onto the
codebase of compute-server, the compute-server will create a CSMessage object and sends it
back to the compute-client. Note: the CSMessage follows the interaction contract by
implementing the Task interface. By calling the getResult() method, the compute-client
will know the problem and fix it later on.
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import java.io.*;
public class CSMessage implements Task, Serializable {
//The variable that holds the error information
private String finalResult;
public CSMessage() {
}
//Return the final computing result
public Object getResult() {
return finalResult;
}
//Set the error message
public void setMessage(String msg) {
finalResult=msg;
}
public void executeTask() {
}
}
The following screenshots show the situation of calling the compute-server before and after the
compute-task ComputeGCD is uploaded.
• Before the compute-task ComputeGCD is uploaded:
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• After the compute-task ComputeGCD is uploaded:
To complement this assignment, you need to implement such a framework and integrate the
Calculate Pi, Calculate Primes and Calculate the Greatest Common Divisor tasks into this
framework. The algorithms of these tasks are given on the unit web site. Your compute-server
must be multi-threaded and follow the ‘thread-per-connection’ architecture (reference Week-4
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contents). The communication between the compute-server and the compute-client must use
TCP protocol through the Java TCP API Socket and ServerSocket as described in Week-2
contents of this unit and also online at,
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/net/Socket.html, and
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/net/ServerSocket.html). Please note: use of any
other protocols will incur no marks to be awarded for this part.
To implement the framework, you need to implement the following Java classes:
1. A Java application to implement the compute-client;
2. A Java application to implement the compute-server; and
3. A Java class to implement the request processing thread.
4. A number of Java classes to implement Calculate Pi, Calculate Primes and Calculate the
Greatest Common Divisor tasks.
Note: to simulate compute-client and compute-server interaction, you don’t have to run them
on two physical machines. Instead, they can be run on two JVMs (Java Virtual Machines) on a
single physical machine. As a result, the name of the server machine can be ‘localhost’.
Part 2: Program use and test instruction
After the implementation of the framework, prepare an end user’ instruction about how to use
your software. The instruction should cover all aspects of the framework as detailed in the
marking criteria below.
Submission
You need to provide the following files in your submission.
1. Files of Java source code of the compute-client, the compute-server and the processing
thread and the compute-tasks. The in-line comments on the data structure and program
structure in the programs are required. These source code files must be able to be
compiled by the standard JDK (Java Development Kit) from Oracle
(http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/index.html).
2. The compiled Java class files of the source code. These Java classes must be runnable on
the standard Java Runtime Environment (JRE) from Oracle
(http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/index.html).
3. A Microsoft Word document to address the issues as specified in Part 2 above.
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/net/Socket.html
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/net/ServerSocket.html
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/index.html
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/index.html
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All the required files must be compressed into a zip file for submission. You must submit your
assignment via the unit web site. Any hardcopy or email submission will not be accepted. After
the marked assignments are returned, any late submissions will not be accepted.
The Marking Criteria
Marking Criteria Available Marks
Part 1: Java TCP Networking, Multi-threading and Object
Serialization Programming
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1. Whether the program can be compiled by JDK and
executed by JRE
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2. Whether the given Task interface is properly used as
the unique communication contract between the
client and server
2
3. Whether the 3 compute-tasks have been implemented
as Java serializable objects
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4. Whether the 3 compute-tasks can be successfully
transferred between the client and server
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5. Whether the 3 compute-tasks can be successfully
executed by the server and can return correct results
to the client
3
6. Whether the ‘not uploading task’ exception can be
handled by using the CSMessage
2
7. Whether the client program functions correctly 2
8. Whether TCP protocol is correctly used for the client
and server communication
2
9. Whether the sever is multi-threaded by using the
‘thread-per-connection’ model
2
Part 2: Program use and test instruction 9
1. Whether the program installation is clearly described 2
2. Whether the codebase is clearly described 1
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3. Whether the test instruction covers all 3 compute-
tasks
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4. Whether the test instruction covers ‘not uploading
task’ exception handling.
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5. Whether the necessary screenshots have been
provided and helpful for the test instruction.
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Sub Total for Assignment 1 30
Late Penalty -1.5 (5%) each calendar
day(either full or partial)
Plagiarism Related Penalty
Total for Assignment 1